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If there ever happens to be a opossum

in your attic, you might want to know about a few tips I picked up. Just in case.

Luckily, it was the garage attic, and not the house attic. I was hoping to pull out the Halloween decorations box. It’s one of those attics with the ladder that pulls out from the ceiling. I crawled through the hole, started poking around for the box, noticed the sleds already for the first snow, and then I saw those little beady eyes, and that long pink nose.

Scream. Run down stairs backwards. Do not even care if you fall on the concrete floor of the garage as you run. (One miracle noted. I tripped, but did not fall. Must have been an angel.)

Call animal control, and follow their instructions.

Pour amonia into a bucket.

Add old rags to bucket so the ammonia will not evaporate so fast.

When next door neighbor arrives with shotgun in arm, (yes, I live in an urban area) ask him to please, instead, put the bucket in the attic for you.

Place bucket in critter’s nesting area to irritate animal’s eyes, nose to encourage them to leave.

Put radio in garage, turn on, to make it so noisy critter will become irritated because “He can’t find any peace and quiet around here.”

Have husband check the next day to see if animal is gone.

He is gone. Reclaim your attic.

Animals, like squirrels, opossums, raccoons, mice and rats are looking for a Winter home right now. If you have any vulnerable areas, you might want to try the ammonia in a bucket thing, just as a preventative measure to keep them out.

When the racoon-remover came to my grandmother’s house to capture the mom and babies, he checked off the box on the slip the reason for removal: “homeowner unable to adjust to wildlife” or something like that. Guess you just couldn’t adjust to that possum, could you? 🙂

Love the animal in the attic experience! I once had a squirrel that broke into the attic on a regular basis — we put a live trap up and in the middle of the night caught it — my husband took it outside, let it go, and turned out the lights. Unfortunately, he had not closed the attic access which was right above our bed (really). Five minutes later, something dropped onto the bed and skittered around. Yes, the squirrel was in bed with me. He was quickly wrangled out the sliding glass door (phew). Good times. Never heard the ammonia tip before — that might be easier.